


The Quiet

by vindictivewithvendettas



Series: Embraced By The Void [2]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Lemm walks a lonely road, idk I’m not an entrepreneur, is it a shop if he only buys stuff?, the only road that he has ever known, which is his shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27193457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vindictivewithvendettas/pseuds/vindictivewithvendettas
Summary: Relic Seeker Lemm enjoyed the quiet... for a while. But now it just enhances the loneliness in his heart.A tiny Knight just might have the solution to Lemm’s problem...Post Embrace the Void
Series: Embraced By The Void [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985056
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	The Quiet

Lemm sullenly organized some Hallownest Seals with nothing but silence for company.

He enjoyed the quiet and solitude at first, but when a blank-faced kid (were they a kid? They looked like one but acted older) showed up and started selling him relics, he found himself taking joy in sharing his knowledge with another, even if they couldn’t respond.

What a concept, that someone as introverted as him would want to socialize.

***

The relic-seller returned. They held a few King’s Idols and an Arcane Egg, the fifth one they had brought to him, that he had ever seen.

Lemm paid them for the Idols, but when he tried to take the egg, they refused the payment. They scribbled something on a piece of parchment and slid it over to him, still clutching the egg.

“I don’t want your money. I want you to keep it safe.”

Lemm looked back at the warrior. “What’s so special about this one?” he asked.

They took back the paper and wrote, “It’s mine.”

Lemm was taken aback. They had hatched from this egg... and they wanted him to keep it? Why?

‘Perhaps because you’re a Relic Seeker,’ his mind whispered. ‘They’re trusting you to keep it safe.’

Lemm gingerly took the egg and wrapped it in a protective membrane. He placed it on a bare shelf. The warrior nodded in thanks and left as silently as they came.

Lemm felt warm... flattered. He folded the parchment in half and wrote ‘Seller’s Egg’ on one side, propping it up on the wrapping.

For the only company he’d had in years, he’d keep it safe.

***

It was darker than normal in his shop—in the whole City. If Lemm listened closely, he could hear whispers in some foreign language in the dark.

The seller hadn’t been by in a while. He wondered if they had somehow been gobbled up by the shadows—or if they had become one. They were certainly quiet enough to be one—or, well, a normal one, not one of these chattering patches of darkness.

Lemm’s thoughts were cut short by the sound of footsteps clicking on the paved hallway floors. He turned from polishing a Hallownest Seal to see the seller, though they were holding nothing but a piece of paper and a quill.

Lemm leaned forward to see what they were writing.

“The Light is no more. Everyone’s minds are freed. Some are moving to Dirtmouth, a surface town. Quiet, good for you. For the lonely. Will you come?”

Lemm turned towards the relics. He had focused so much on the past before... maybe it was time to look towards the future.

He looked back at the visitor.

“Just let me pack some things.”

***

The seller was right—Dirtmouth was quiet. But not silent. Lemm could hear the bubbly laughter of children and adults alike, and the calls of vendors selling their wares. It was quiet, but full of life.

Lemm moved into a small house that was in a cluster of a few others. At first, he only had one neighbor: an old adventurer named Quirrel. But a few weeks in, an eccentric fellow who called himself the Mask Maker (and a mask maker he was—his work was true art) moved in and immediately decided that Lemm’s old, worn mask needed improvement. He didn’t give it back until three days later, polished and gleaming in the light.

A third neighbor, a Snail Shaman, moved in and was immediately “adopted” by the three. They worked together to pay for living expenses and such, sometimes even backing the others’ escapades into the ashes of the kingdom—of their past. 

Sure, Lemm’s life wasn’t as quiet anymore, but he wouldn’t trade it for any knowledge or relic in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Post any character you might want a happy ending for! Try to go for lesser known or background ones. Use your imagination!


End file.
